Chepstow, Monmouthshire

After 1834

Chepstow Poor Law Union was formed on 16th May, 1836. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 35 in number, representing its 32 constituent parishes as listed below (figures in brackets indicate numbers of Guardians if more than one):

The population falling within the Union at the 1831 census had been 11,433 with parishes ranging in size from Llangwm Icha (population 25) to Chepstow itself (3,534). The average annual poor-rate expenditure for the period 1833-35 had been £3,603 or 6s.4d. per head.

The Board of Guardians met at the workhouse each Saturday at 11am.

Chepstow Union workhouse was erected in 1838 at the north side of Mounton Road to the south-west of Chepstow. Its design appears to have been based on the Poor Law Commissioners' model 200-pauper plan. The workhouse location and layout are shown on the 1901 map below:

Chepstow workhouse site, 1901.

In the original building, the east-facing entrance block contained a central entrance hall with the clerk's office to one side, and a small receiving ward to the other. The board-room lay to the rear, leading through to the dining-hall cum school-room. At the centre, an octagonal hub had a kitchen and stores on its ground floor, with accommodation ranges for females to the south and for males to the north. A washroom and laundry ran westwards from the hub. An infectious ward block was oddly situated at the north-east corner of the workhouse, accessed via the men's yard.

In 1895, Kelly's Directory noted that the workhouse "has been enlarged from time to time & is now a commodious suite of buildings & will accommodate 175 inmates. The school is now used as a chapel for the inmates & the children are sent to the board school with satisfactory results."

After 1930, the former workhouse became Regent House Public Assistance Institution. Most of the workhouse buildings have now been demolished. A small building, possibly a board-room and office block, at the south-east corner of the site is currently (2000) occupied by social services offices. A fragment of the main building stands nearby.